Dr.Haynes wins 2014 Dissertation of the year

Friday

Mar 14, 2014 at 11:00 AMMar 14, 2014 at 11:53 AM

An assistant history professor whose first "real book" as a child was about the Battle of Midway claims history has always fascinated him, and when a former high school teacher encouraged his interest, his pursuit of history took off like the battle itself in World War II.

Nancy Calderon

An assistant history professor whose first "real book" as a child was about the Battle of Midway claims history has always fascinated him, and when a former high school teacher encouraged his interest, his pursuit of history took off like the battle itself in World War II.

An almost life-long interest and passion was channeled into the hard work of writing a '300 and something'-page dissertation that was recently named 2014 Dissertation of the year by The Ohio Academy of History.

Dodge City Community College Professor, Dr. Steven Haynes, who first learned of his nomination November of last year, said to win the award is a good feeling.

"I spent years working on this project," Dr. Haynes said. "It's rewarding to know you created something worthwhile."

Dr. Haynes said his dissertation piece was composed after years of research and endless days that consisted of looking at reels and reels of microfilm.

The paper titled, "The Alternative Vision: The U.S. Latin America and the League of Nations focused on how the League of Nations affected U.S. Latin America relations" was a topic Dr. Haynes came across while doing research for another paper.

He became eligible for the award after earning his Ph.D. at Kent State University in Ohio. The Ohio Academy of History has been giving the Dissertation of the Year award since 1934. Factors considered when determining the winner include quality of scholarship and research.

Dr. Haynes has been teaching at DC3 since 2011. He said his students would probably describe him as loud and energetic and says teaching history is something he thoroughly enjoys. For him, history is trying to convey his ideas and perspectives.

"I have a bookcase full of notes and documents- trying to teach history is trying to make sense of all these thousands upon thousands of documents and trying to put it into some kind of context or some kind of story, it's not cut and dry." He said. "It's trying to figure out what happened, in your perspective and trying to be convincing that my perspective is right — like all historians should do.

Community College President Dr. Woodburn said the college is proud of Dr. Haynes and his accomplishment stating, "Dr. Haynes is a prime example of the excellent quality of educators we are fortunate to have at DC3."

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